Our Sustainability Commitment

Creating long-term value by growing our business sustainably

Our Sustainability Strategy

CapitaLand’s sustainability strategy is based on our credo ‘Building People. Building Communities.’. We are committed to improving the economic, environmental and social well-being of our stakeholders through our projects and operations management. We embrace innovation to ensure our commercial viability without compromising the environment for future generations.

Our Commitment to Sustainability

As one of Asia’s largest real estate developers, we believe in growing our business in a sustainable manner to create long-term value for our investors and improve the economic and social well-being of our communities.

CapitaLand’s sustainability strategy is based on our credo ‘Building People. Building Communities.’. We are committed to improving the economic, environmental and social well-being of our stakeholders through our projects and operations management. We embrace innovation to ensure our commercial viability without compromising the environment for future generations.

We uphold high standards of corporate governance and transparency to safeguard shareholders’ interests, and have in place an integrated human capital strategy to recruit, develop and motivate employees to drive our growth. Our community development efforts focus on supporting underprivileged children through corporate philanthropy and employee volunteerism.

We are also a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, reflecting our commitment to contributing to a sustainable global economy for present and future generations.

For our efforts, we are listed in The Sustainability Yearbook 2017 with a Silver Class Sustainability Award, placing it in the top three among real estate companies worldwide and making it the only Singapore company with such a distinction. CapitaLand is also listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability World and Asia Pacific Index, Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (Regional Sector Leader for Asia, Diversified) and the FTSE4Good Index Series.

Top Management Commitment and Staff Involvement

Leading CapitaLand’s sustainability strategy is a Sustainability Council which comprises members of CapitaLand’s top management.

It is further supported by a Sustainability Steering Committee that oversees two working teams, comprising representatives from all of CapitaLand’s business units.

This steering committee helps monitor and ensure CapitaLand’s continued growth and progress in the three main areas of environment, social and governance (ESG). The Chairman of this committee also has the responsibility of updating the CapitaLand Board of Directors on sustainability management performance, key material issues as identified by stakeholders, and follow up measures or actions.

All matters relating to sustainability risks and business malpractice incidents are communicated to the Board regularly through the Risk and Audit Committees.

We have a regular review, assessment and feedback process in relation to ESG topics. Through regular stakeholder engagement, we identify and review material issues that are most relevant and significant to the group and its stakeholders.

Sustainability Management Structure

CapitaLand’s Global Sustainability Report

CapitaLand is one of the first companies in Singapore to voluntarily publish its Sustainability Reports annually according to the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) Guidelines in 2009. Our reports cover our international property portfolio and global workforce in more than 130 cities. Our Reports are benchmarked against international standards and frameworks, and are externally validated.

In line with CapitaLand’s commitment to environmental sustainability, no printed copies of these reports were made. Online versions are readily available in HTML and PDF format. The PDF version of the reports are iPad/iPhone/Smart Device friendly. Once downloaded, users may tap on the screen to open the file in a compatible document app like iBooks.

Our Approach

Understanding our environmental impact is an important part of CapitaLand’s business operations and delivering value to our stakeholders.

We seek to incorporate environmental sustainability in every stage of a project. We track our environmental performance against the material issues of climate change, energy, water, waste and biodiversity.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) of our employees, tenants, contractors, suppliers and customers is of utmost importance to us. We seek to implement effective OHS management to achieve zero harm.

CapitaLand Environmental, Health and Safety Policy

As an international corporate social citizen, CapitaLand has in place an Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) Management System to support our commitment to protect the environment and uphold the occupational health and safety of everyone in the workplace. We will:

Carry out exemplary EHS practices to minimise pollution, as well as health and safety risks

Seek continual improvement and development on its EHS performance

Comply with pertinent government legislations and other requirements

Implement the CapitaLand Sustainable Building Guidelines and Occupational Health and Safety programmes

We make this policy readily available to all employees, suppliers, service providers and partners.
(*This includes implementing an EHS Management System)

We are committed to promoting positive impact within the communities where we operate. This is why we implement universal design on CapitaLand’s properties - this means our properties are socially sustainable for minimal impact to communities, and flexible enough for change in the future.

Our people also play a key role in our integrated sustainability strategy. We focus on building human capital through providing equal opportunities for our employees’ continual learning and training to help them develop in their personal and professional capacities.

Occupational health and safety policies are also maintained to ensure the workplace safety of health and staff, safety and property of residents, shoppers, tenants and the public, and within the supply chain.

As part of social responsibility, our staff are also encouraged to give back. This could be volunteering through the CapitaLand Hope Foundation (CHF), our philanthropic arm, or via other community engagement activities.

At CapitaLand, we believe that practicing good corporate governance is central to the health and stability of our financial markets and the economy.

We adhere to an ethics and code of business conduct policy which deals with issues such as confidentiality, conduct and work discipline, corporate gifts and concessionary offers.

Clear policies and guidelines on how to handle workplace harassment and grievances are also in place, while our zero-tolerance policy against bribery and corruption extends to our business dealings with third-party service providers and vendors.